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Adventureland: A Vintage Review

Sometimes, when you want to invest yourself in a film, you don’t require orchestral scores, heavy plot lines and the ‘one tear’. In some cases, a down to Earth film gives you the fuzzies, and that’s exactly what Adventureland accomplished for me.

The main stars in the film, whether it was Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds or Martin Starr, blew me away. They give grounded, honest and believable performances, and that’s really what the main driving quality behind Adventureland is. Whenever these main characters emote, it doesn’t feel Hollywood-ized in the slightest. Their actions seem justified and true to the story that was presented. How these characters fall into certain positions, or how they undergo a problem a certain way, this all makes for great relatability with the audience. And of course, for a film set in the 80s, who can’t love the supporting soundtrack?

If anything does detract from this film, it is the surrounding characters. You sense certain archetypes that do in fact feel real and true, but often times they are over-exaggerated to the point where the film loses its believability. An example of this is Bill Hader’s theme park manager character. It’s still quite entertaining to watch, but unfortunately does slightly contradict what makes the film feel so special.

Nevertheless, Adventureland is one of those under-the-radar films for me that I can see myself recommending highly to my friends in the future. There’s something so joyful about sharing a film with others in which the character’s personalities parallel their own.

Rating: 4.5/5.

If this style of review tingled you in a positive way, share it with those you love dear. If you don’t love anyone, share it anyway. And stay tuned for more to-the-point reviews. Deuces.